Groupon to cut 1,100 jobs as it restructures outside N. America

Groupon Inc., the operator of daily deals website groupon.com, said it would cut about 1,100 jobs globally as it restructures outside North America.

Groupon is shutting operations in Morocco, Panama, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, Thailand and Uruguay after exiting Greece and Turkey, the company said in a separate blog post on Tuesday.

Groupon, which had about 11,800 employees globally at the end of December, said that it expected to complete the job cuts, mainly in sales and customer service, by September 2016.

A strong dollar has hurt companies with a large presence in markets outside the United States. Markets outside North America accounted for about 43 percent of Groupon's revenue in 2014.

The company said in April it would sell a 46 percent stake in its South Korean business as part of its turnaround efforts.

"I think it's actually a good thing for investors to hear that they're taking some more cuts out of their international operations," Topeka Capital Markets analyst Blake Harper said.

Groupon, once the leader in the online coupons market, has also been struggling to boost sales as competitive deals on online marketplaces operated by Amazon.com Inc. and eBay Inc. make its coupons less attractive to shoppers.

The company has started selling products on its website.

Groupon said it expected to incur pretax charges of up to $35 million, including $22 million-$24 million in the third quarter, related to the job cuts.

Any cost savings from the restructuring are expected to be "immaterial" in 2015, Groupon said, adding that it would reinvest cost savings in subsequent years in the business.

Groupon's shares were down about 2 percent at $4.10 in a weak broader market.

Up to Monday's close, the stock had fallen 79 percent since November 2011, when the company went public in what was then the largest initial public offering by a U.S. Internet company after Google Inc's listing.